The Planetary Society of India (PSI) said on Monday that the Earth will reach its closest point to the sun on Tuesday.
PSI Director N Sri Raghunandan Kumar said in a press release that the earth revolves around the sun in an elliptical orbit. Therefore, at a certain point in time, the earth will be closest to the sun.
Therefore, he said that at 12:09 on Tuesday noon, the earth will reach the closest point to the sun in an annual elliptical orbit of 0.9833 AU, which is 14,70,99,586 kilometers from the sun.
In astronomy, this phenomenon is called “perihelion.” At 12:41 pm on July 4 this year, the earth will be located at the aphelion point 1.0167 AU (15,20,96,155 kilometers) from the sun, which is the point furthest from the sun.
In other words, due to perihelion, the earth will be 49,96,569 kilometers closer to the sun in its orbit than on July 4.
Mr. Kumar said that it is generally believed that the distance from the earth to the sun determines the season or temperature on the earth. However, it is not.
When the earth revolves around the sun, the axial tilt of its axis (approximately 23.5 degrees) regulates the seasons on the planet earth, with one hemisphere facing away from or facing the sun.
At the beginning of the year, in most countries in the northern hemisphere, January is winter, and the earth is closest to the sun in early 2022.
And now is the summer in the southern hemisphere countries. Also in July, when the earth is at the farthest position from the sun, compared to January, the weather in India and nearby areas is mostly very hot.
This clearly shows that the distance from the earth to the sun does not determine the seasons, but the inclination of its journey around the sun each year.
Mr. Kumar said that, just like every year, in 2021, the celestial event from the Earth’s perihelion (nearest point) to the Sun will occur on January 2, 2021. The celestial event from the aphelion (furthest point) from the earth to the sun occurred on July 6, 2021. So in this year, 2021, compared with July 6, the earth will be close to 50,07,355 kilometers from the sun on January 2, 2021.
He said that it takes 365.25 days for the earth to revolve around the sun. This is a fact. In contrast, Mercury needs about 87.96 Earth days, while Venus needs 224.7 Earth days to complete a revolution around the sun.
This means that people on Mercury celebrate the New Year every 88 days, while people on Venus celebrate every 225 days.
Just like the Earth or even Mercury, Venus is also closer (perihelion) and farther (aphelion) at some point in its revolution. Therefore, on January 16, 2022, Mercury will be located at perihelion (nearest point) to the sun. On January 23, 2022, Venus will be located at the perihelion (nearest point) to the sun.
On that day, although people will not be able to notice or observe any major events related to these three astronomical events in January. It has greater educational value and scientific awareness.
It is important that people understand that the temperature or seasons on the earth do not depend on the distance from the earth to the sun, but the axial tilt during travel around the sun.
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